Fantastic Four: Storm Rising
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: The Fantasitc Four are in a big fight against thugs with powerful weapons, when Johnny suddenly disappears. Sue is going out of her mind as she's terrified for her brother, but after missing for several days, Johnny suddenly shows back up, very ill and with no powers. Reed, Sue, and Ben help him to recover, but all he can remember was pain and that Victor von Doom was responsible.
1. Chapter 1

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter One

New York City was wild and crazy as it always was and despite the cold winter nights, people had not slowed down going about their business, nor had the criminals. For the most part, the police took care of fighting the crime throughout the city, except for on occasion when they needed to call in some extra power for assistance.

Both Reed and Sue Richards gave up trying to resist being the superheroes they had become after the whole fiasco with Galactus and the Silver Surfer in China and they were happy now, as they were finally married and a part of a family that included her hotheaded brother, Johnny Storm, also known as the Human Torch, Ben Grimm, who was given name, the Thing, thanks to Johnny, and Alicia Masters, Ben's longtime girlfriend. Whenever they were called in to help, the Fantastic Four, as they had been dubbed by the media, also thanks to Johnny, dropped whatever it was they were working on and gladly did what it was they were meant to do since that fateful day when they were brought together.

This afternoon was no exception as Reed had received a call from the city's police commissioner, alerting Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman to an emergency downtown, asking them for the team's assistance to end it. A robbery at the city's largest bank was in progress and the large group of hired thugs was using technology that gave them abilities that mimicked the powers of the Fantastic Four, making it too much for the police to handle. Reed suspected that the technology was most likely stolen as well, or possibly given to the thugs to use against them by whoever it was that hired them.

The Fantastic Four managed to take the group down without many problems at all, until the end, when the leader of the group fled to the roof, where Johnny had flown up to in order to cut him off from escaping, while the rest of the Fantastic's were finishing taking down the others. The guy had been using a weapon that created flames more powerful than a regular flamethrower, but when he came face to face with the Human Torch, he quickly tossed it to the ground and suddenly pulled one of the hostages he had dragged along with him, up in front of him to use as a shield, as he quickly placed a gun up to her head.

"You made a smart choice in tossing your flamethrower there, as you see that you can't hurt me with that, but did you really have to take such a beautiful lady hostage?" Johnny asked cockily as he hovered in the air, still flamed on, just a few feet away from where the thief and the woman stood. "It's like you don't know me at all. I'll give you until the count of three, but if you don't lay down your gun and let her go, then I will be forced to hurt you. Now, is that what you really want?"

"You can't hurt me," the thug answered angrily. "You would just be arrested yourself if you attack me."

Johnny looked at the man in confusion as he asked, "Who said anything about attacking you? I don't plan to attack you, but I am going to help the lady here out by knocking that gun from your hand."

Just as he said, Johnny quickly shot a small burst of fire toward the man, successfully striking his gun hand, causing the thief to drop the gun to the ground. As soon as she saw her opportunity, the woman used the back of her head to knock the thug backward so that she could pull away from him and then Johnny finished taking him out by turning off his flames and landing on top of him, successfully knocking the thug unconscious.

After he finished, Johnny looked at the woman as he stood up and then said, "That was a pretty nice head butt there, Miss. Are you all right now?"

The woman smiled at him as she moved closer to him and replied, "I am now, thanks to you. You're the Human Torch. I'm new in town, but I've heard all about you from my boss. He's talked a lot about you and your team."

"I'm flattered," Johnny responded as he grinned, intoxicated by her long, flowing red hair and deep, green eyes. "I'd like to meet your boss if he or she would be interested in meeting a real superhero. I'd be even more interested in getting to know you though."

"Take it easy there, Flyboy," she answered as she and Johnny were finally touching, their faces only an inch apart as he slowly moved in to kiss her. "I believe that you and my boss have already met. His name is Victor von Doom."

Johnny attempted to pull back as soon as she mentioned Victor's name, but before he could she roughly pushed her lips up against his and suddenly he was growing colder and colder as a blue frost suddenly flowed from her mouth and into his own, quickly freezing him from the inside out, despite his extremely high body temperature. Because of his power, it took much longer to subdue him to unconsciousness than she had planned on, but eventually she managed to do so and then slowly eased his body to the ground, just as Victor came walking out from the shadows of the building, where he had been watching the whole scene with a smile on his face.

Victor spoke up smugly as he said, "Johnny Storm always was a fool when it came to a pretty face. Nicely done, Miss. Frost. I see that the money I'm paying you to join me is money well spent."

The woman replied, "He was easy to seduce, but there's something I don't understand. Why go through all of this trouble, just to kidnap someone, when I could have very easily caught him when he was alone while out for a walk or something? What do you plan to do with him?"

"I just wanted to have a little fun and to make sure that the others would be too distracted to come to Johnny's aid," Doom responded. "Now, let's get him and get out of here before they notice he's missing. I promise, you'll learn everything you need to know very soon."

The last time Victor had been with the Fantastic Four, Johnny had managed to take him down all on his own as he had possession of all of the team's powers, with the exception of the final strike by Ben as he knocked Victor into the ocean by hitting him with a metal slab being lifted by a crane. It was the second time Doom had been defeated by the young hothead of the team and this time, Victor was going to make him and the others pay for humiliating him in front of the world by using Johnny's power against them in a battle that would force them to bow down at his feet and beg him for mercy.


	2. Chapter 2

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Two

Once the battle finally ended and Reed, Susan, and Ben had finished tying the thieves together for the police after they had disarmed them of their weapons, the three members of the team looked around the room and noticed that Johnny was nowhere in sight and neither was the man that led the group.

"Did either of you see where Johnny disappeared to?" Sue asked her husband and Ben nervously.

"Matchstick's probably just found a pretty face to flirt with," Ben responded. "A frightened damsel in distress. You know how he is, Susie."

One of the thugs spoke up saying, "Trust me, the woman your friend is with is no damsel in distress."

As each of them turned to look at the man who spoke, Reed scowled as he asked suspiciously, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, this was all a set up between that woman and our boss," the guy answered. "She set us all up just to get caught and our boss allowed it to happen."

"What did she hire you for?" Sue asked angrily. "What did she want?"

Another one of the men replied, "We were hired to rob the bank. That was all, but I heard her talking on her phone to some guy. She said something about the Human Torch. I'm just not sure what she wanted with him."

Sue quickly responded, "We need to find Johnny. Which way did he go?"

"Their leader and this woman they're talking about are missing too and the only way they could have gotten out of here was to take this exit to the top," Reed answered as he headed toward the stairwell that led up to the roof. "Chances are, Johnny saw them run and took a short cut."

"You two go find the kid," Ben said quickly. "I'll stay here and make sure these guys don't try anything funny."

Reed nodded as he allowed Sue to run past him and then followed closely behind her all the way up the stairwell. When they finally reached the roof, they found the thieves' leader unconscious on the ground, with his fire weapon on the ground beside him, as well as a gun that looked like a part of it had been scorched, most likely Johnny's work. Neither Johnny nor the woman that supposedly had hired these men and women to rob the bank were in sight.

After quickly scanning the area, it was then that Reed noticed something strange on the roof, not too far away from the man's body and as he moved toward it, he spoke up more to himself than to Sue, "This doesn't make any sense. Why is there frost right here and not anywhere else up on this roof? I suppose it's possible that something was left over from something having been frozen after it was moved, but it would have had to have been moved within a few minutes ago. Otherwise, it would have melted no matter how cold it is out here."

Sue replied, "Who cares about frost residue, Reed. Johnny's gone. That woman did something to him. He wouldn't have just flown off."

"She may have had a way off this roof and he probably just chased after her, Sue," Reed responded as he stood up and pulled his wife into his arms. "I'm sure he's fine. He can take care of himself. He is the Human Torch after all."

"Yes, but what if this woman isn't normal either?" Sue asked fearfully. "What if she wasn't working alone? We have to find him!"

Reed softly answered, "We will find him, Sue. I promise you, we will."

Several hours later, late into the night…

Johnny awoke only to find himself completely submerged in some kind of water tank about the size of a coffin, with an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth to help him to breathe and his wrists and ankles shackled to the sides of the tank. There were also a number of what appeared to be electrodes attached to his bare chest that ran from him, out to a large machine in the middle of a much larger room where he found himself in. The water inside of the tank had to be freezing cold as his abnormal body temperature would have caused anything warmer to begin to boil as he tried to flame on and he was strangely cold. He knew his efforts to escape were a waste of time, as fire and water didn't mix, but he wasn't willing to allow whoever it was that had kidnapped him to do whatever they wanted to him without putting up some kind of fight.

After taking in everything that was around him, Johnny tried to remember how he had gotten himself into this predicament, as the memories of the woman he thought he had rescued from the thieves at the bank came back to him and he suddenly realized he had been set up, the moment she had mentioned the Fantastic Four's greatest enemy, Dr. Doom. The very last thing he remembered was feeling extremely cold as she had somehow frozen him from the inside out when she kissed him and then nothing but darkness as he finally fell unconscious.

Johnny still continued to struggle to break himself free, but as he did so, Victor finally walked out from wherever he had been hiding, followed closely by the red head, who had fooled him, as Victor spoke up saying, "There's no use in trying to escape, Johnny. It's a pointless effort."

"Don't you think you ought to explain your plan, seeing as I am sure he would be asking what he has to do with all of this if he could talk?" Miss. Frost asked as she moved to stand in front of the tank in order to get a good look at their prisoner.

"This machine Johnny is connected to is designed to drain his power from his body and absorb it in order to eventually create what will have very similar effects of an atomic bomb," Victor replied smugly. "It will be extremely painful for you, Johnny, and it will take several days to absorb the amount of your power that's needed, but when the machine is fully charged, the world will be mine and eventually you'll die, as will your sister, Reed, and that annoying rock pile you call, the Thing. I will not be beaten and humiliated this time and your family will not find you in time, nor will they be able to stop me from destroying this city and its people, all thanks to you."

On the outside, Johnny only glared angrily at the villains as they stood in front of him, so that they wouldn't be able to see how terrified he was on the inside. The fear was not for himself, but for his family and the people he had sworn to protect since he had received his powers, especially knowing that their lives were at stake because of him. He had faith in Reed, but they've never had to fight against themselves.


	3. Chapter 3

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Three

It was a bright and sunny day throughout the city, but to the three remaining members of the team, it felt dark and gloomy, as they had yet to find out anything about Johnny's disappearance and there was also no word on the woman, whom they believed was responsible for taking him. Reed had hacked into the surveillance footage from the bank in order to get a look at her, but so far, no one seemed to know, who she was, including the men and woman that had attacked the bank.

Even though Reed and Ben were just as afraid for Johnny, Sue was going out of her mind, as the fear that she may never see her brother again was beginning to take its toll on her, as she had refused to sleep, she hardly ate, and she hardly even spoke, except for when it was out of anger whenever the others, including Alicia, would try to comfort her. It was around noon on the fifth day when Reed wondered throughout the Baxter Building and finally found his wife sitting on his bed and staring out of the window in what was Johnny's room whenever he came to stay with them, despite having his own apartment a bit deeper in the city.

Tears poured down her face as she spoke up softly asking, "We're never going to find him, are we Reed? He's really gone."

Reed sat down on the bed beside her and pulled her into his arms as he answered, "Even though it has been five days since he went missing, we're not ready to give up on him. He certainly wouldn't on any of us, especially not you."

"I've taken care of him since we were kids, Reed," Sue replied sadly. "When our mother died and our father went to prison, I swore to Johnny that I would always take care of him."

"And you have," Reed responded. "Johnny knows that and he would be the first to tell you to stop blaming yourself for what's happened. Right now, he needs you to be level headed so that we can continue in our search. We're not through yet."

Just as Sue was about to say something else, the building's alarm suddenly began to go off and as Reed and Sue began to run out toward the main room, where Reed did all of his research and science projects, they heard Ben call out for them to get in there right away. As they finally arrived and rushed up to stand beside Ben, all of them stared at Johnny, who was struggling to breathe and barely conscious on the floor of the lab.

Both Sue and Reed rushed over to him and she pulled her brother into her arms as she cried out, "Johnny! Reed, what's wrong with him?"

"I don't… I have to run some tests on him," Reed answered with fear in his voice as he looked over his brother in law's sweat covered and ashen body in search for a reason why he was so ill. "Help me get him on top of the medical table. Hang on to us, Johnny. You're going to be all right."

"What hap… who did this to you?" Sue asked him as her anger for whoever was responsible for hurting her brother took over her fear.

As they lay him upon the table, Johnny struggled to reply, "Vic… Victor, he's back… again. He has… power… my power. He's going to… to… destroy…"

Before he could finish, Johnny fell unconscious as Sue cried out his name again, then Ben looked over at Reed and responded angrily, "I had a feeling that scumbag would show up again eventually. We should have made sure we killed him the last time we saw him. If we did, none of this would have happened. What do you suppose the kid meant about Victor and his power?"

As Reed was scanning Johnny's body with his various machines and technology, while staring at his computer monitors, Reed answered, "Victor has more lives than a cat. Besides, we were too focused on saving the planet from Galactus to worry about whether or not he was dead. I… oh my God!"

"What is it?" Sue asked as she turned away from Johnny and looked up at her husband with a darker fear in her eyes. "Reed, what is it? What did Victor do to my brother?"

"It appears that his body is still infused with the cosmic rays' energy, as his body's core is still heated up several hundred degrees above normal kelvin, but his temperature is…"

Sue impatiently interrupted, "It's what, Reed? Will he be all right?"

Reed replied, "His fever is dangerously high and I don't think that normal medicine can help me bring it down. Also, it appears that his powers have been drained from him, but whatever Victor did to him, however he stole his power, it messed up Johnny's entire immune system and nervous system. I'm not sure what I can do for him. Sue, I'm so…"

"Don't!" Sue responded forcefully. "Don't even say it. Johnny escaped wherever he was being held to come back here to warn us that Victor has stolen his power in order to use it to destroy, whatever his target is, somehow. You have to help him, save him. Then, we need to find Victor and kill him. I've already lost my parents. Johnny's the only family I have left, besides you and Ben of course. I will not lose him too. I don't care what you have to do, just do it. Do you hear me? I'm going to work on finding Victor and his girlfriend."

"Susie's right, Reed," Ben said firmly as Reed turned to look at him after watching Susan walk out of the room. "I know that there's something in that egghead of yours that can help Matchstick here. I'll stay with you and do whatever you need me to do. Then, all four of us can go after Doom together. We have to make him pay and stop him from trying to destroy us once and for all. Otherwise, eventually any of us could die, or the world will suffer. We can't let that happen."

Reed looked back down at Johnny sadly and then softly answered, "I have no objection to that."


	4. Chapter 4

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Four

Hours ago at Doom's headquarters…

Victor and Miss. Frost walked back into the main room of Victor's lab in order to check on Johnny and the machine Doom had built to absorb the younger man's fire power. Over the last five days, Victor had turned on his machine for only an hour at a time, after which he had to switch it off for several hours so that Johnny could rest and rebuild his strength in order to remain alive, knowing that if he didn't, Johnny would die from the torture and his powers would disappear with him.

Victor walked over to stand in front of the machines set up next to the water tank where Johnny was still imprisoned in, which monitored the Human Torch's vital signs. The readings showed that Johnny was still alive, but barely. He looked over at the woman he had hired to work for him and nodded, after which she moved over to stand near the machine and switched it off, then observed the readings on its monitors.

As he stared at Johnny, whose head was down with his chin resting against his chest and whose eyes were closed, Victor spoke up as he asked, "How do the power levels look this afternoon, Miss. Frost?"

The woman replied, "Your machine is finally fully charged, Victor. I cannot believe you did it. How is our power source doing?"

"Johnny Storm is uniquely resilient," Doom answered. "I have to commend him for his will to survive, but then again, he is one of the Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, his fight is about to be worth nothing. Take him out of here and finish him off once and for all. Then, dispose of him somewhere far from here. I can't have anyone come around to draw attention to my machine. The city will learn of it when I'm ready for them to."

"Why don't you just turn the machine back on and let it finish draining what's left of him?" Miss. Frost asked. "It would be simple."

Victor turned to her and responded, "I don't want to risk burning out the machine and destroying what I have spent so long to build. Besides, I want his teammates to find his body. I want them to see that their actions have costs and for them to suffer for their loss. Now, release him and then finish him off. He is of no threat to you, as I now possess his power."

After Doom left the lab, the woman turned and looked up at Johnny, then spoke to him softly as if he could hear her, saying, "I am sorry that I got myself involved in this fight between you, your friends, and a madman, but the money was too good to pass up. I'm a mercenary and I do whatever I am paid to do."

After she thought for a few minutes, she moved over to the tank and pushed a few buttons on the monitor, after which the water began to drain from the tank. When it was finally finished, she opened the tank, unlatched the shackles that held the younger man in place, then uneasily pulled him down, and lay him down on the ground, as Johnny remained unconscious, or so she thought.

Just as she had finished laying him down, Johnny suddenly struck the woman hard across her face with her own gun, which he had gently pulled from off of her belt as she was focused on him, and then weakly kept it trained on her as he struggled to flame on, then when he discovered he couldn't, he asked, "What did you... do to me? Where am I?"

"I'm surprised, Johnny," Miss. Frost replied as she stayed back, even though she believed she could easily overtake him. "I am surprised you're awake despite the pain you are obviously feeling. I can help you."

"I wasn't… born yesterday, Lady," Johnny said as he struggled to stand, using the tank and monitors to help him. "Where's Vic? What is this…?"

"You're in no condition to fight me," she answered angrily. "Your powers are gone and you're dying. It's only a matter of time. I can end your suffering now, painlessly, if you let me."

Johnny knew she was right, as he felt an intense fever radiating throughout his entire body and he felt ill, but he wasn't about to give her and Doom the satisfaction of killing him, so he hid the pain as best as he could and responded, "Thanks… but I think I'm going to pass."

Suddenly, Johnny shot the mercenary in her shoulder, causing her to collapse to the floor from the impact and then took off running out of the lab as quickly as he could, despite how weak he felt. The wound in her shoulder wasn't bad and Johnny knew it wouldn't keep her down for long, so as he made outside, he looked for a way to escape and quickly spotted a building nearby that was engulfed in flames, where firemen were struggling to put the fire out.

Johnny couldn't flame on, but despite whatever Doom had done to him, he didn't have any other choice than to trust that he wasn't completely powerless and ran straight into the flames, ignoring one of the fireman's shouts for him to stop. Miss. Frost watched from the exit of the lab as Johnny had done so and stared at the flames, hardly believing the younger man's stamina. Even if Johnny was still alive, she couldn't go after him now and if she told her boss that she had allowed him to escape, Doom would kill her. So, Miss. Frost ran herself, realizing that staying alive was more important than the money Doom had promised her.

Back at the Baxter Building; in the present…

It was getting late into the night and Reed was quietly working on his computers, as he examined Johnny in hope of finding out what had happened to him. Johnny still remained unconscious, hours after the youngest member of their team had somehow made it back to them five days after his abduction. Heat was radiating off of his body and it wasn't because of his powers, or whatever was left inside of him. He was ill and Reed knew that if he didn't find some way to bring the fever down, Johnny was going to die.

After Sue had left the lab in order to try to locate Victor and the woman, who had helped the madman kidnap her brother, Reed had asked Ben to quickly get him as many frozen gel packs as he could get his hands on. After he did so, Ben and Reed had covered his body with them, hoping that the cold would help buy them time to find a way to save him.

Just as Reed had finished injecting an IV into Johnny's arm, which contained fluids that he felt would hopefully begin to work on bringing down the fever, Reed suddenly heard Ben shout his name from another room and so he quickly ran in and found that his friend was watching a story on the news about a fire that had destroyed a warehouse somewhere downtown, then asked, "What's going on? Is everyone on sight all right?"

"Relax, Egghead," Ben replied quickly. "This footage is from earlier this afternoon. I didn't think anything of it until the reporter started talking about how he witnessed some guy run straight into the building, but never came back out. The strangest thing is, when the firemen finished putting out the fire they went inside to look for the guy's body, but they never found one."

"It was Johnny," Reed answered as he realized what Ben was getting at. "He might have been running away from Victor after he managed to escape and knew that the only way to do that was to go somewhere only he could go."

Ben looked at Reed and responded, "But the kid's powers are kaput. You said it yourself. He had to have known that."

Reed nodded and replied, "Yes, but I also said that his chemistry hasn't totally been changed. The energy is still there, but Victor has seriously damaged his system by doing whatever the hell he did to him and it's killing him. I am doing all I can, but…"

He was suddenly cut off as an alarm began to ring wildly from the machines that he had hooked up to Johnny and as he and Ben both came charging back into the room, they saw that Johnny had begun to flat line. Reed rushed over to him and quickly yanked out the IV he had injected into him, as well as the many wires he had attached to him, then began to work wildly to restart his heart by using a defibrillator and thankfully, after a few minutes, he was successful in reviving him. However, the scientist suddenly lifted Johnny up from off of the table and with the help from Ben, they carried the younger man into the bathroom down the hall and gently lay him inside the tub, after which Reed quickly turned on the cold water, as cold as it could go, and allowed it to run over him.

"What the hell just happened, Reed?" Ben asked fearfully. "What are we doing?"

"I need ice and a lot of it," Reed answered as he held onto Johnny to keep his head above the water. "Get as much as you can get. Trust me, he'll need it."

Ben was about to ask something else, until Sue came running in and shouted, "What's happening to him, Reed?"

Reed looked up at Ben, who only nodded and then turned and rushed out to go and get the ice, then turned back to his wife and responded, "Johnny flat lined a few minutes ago. His body is heating up from his core as it normally would, I mean, since we were all changed, but because of what Victor did to him, his immune system cannot take his fever being this high. It's causing his body to shut down, which is why we need to cool him down as quickly as possible and keep him cool long enough to bring the fever down. I sent Ben to get us ice. I should have thought of this before."

By the time the cold water covered his body up to his neck, Johnny slowly began to come around as he sluggishly opened his eyes and began to whimper, as the cold water probably felt like needles shooting into his skin. Sue knelt down beside her husband on the floor and then slowly began to stroke Johnny's forehead for comfort in order to let him know she was there. Even though he was no longer unconscious, Johnny wasn't aware of his surroundings either.

By mid morning, the three members of the team had finally managed to bring Johnny's fever down, but he had been in and out of conscious the whole night and not once had he been aware of his surroundings. Though his fever had broken, he was still very ill and Reed was unsure of what to do from that point on. It was nearly noon when Johnny actually awoke and recognized Sue as she was sitting in a chair beside where he lay back up on the medical table, after they had removed him from the tub.

"Sue, I…" he tried to say until the pain that still radiated across his body overtook his senses as he tried to sit up.

"Just lie still," Sue replied softly as she gently pushed him back down. "Don't try to move right now. You're in no condition to."

Johnny closed his eyes, then opened them again as he looked up at her and asked, "What happened? I feel so strange; empty. I don't know how… how to explain it."

Ben and Reed came over to them and surrounded him as Reed answered, "Victor did something to you when he took you. I'm working on trying to figure out what that was. Do you remember anything?"

"I remember, Victor and I remember feeling cold; pain, but I don't… I can't remember," Johnny responded groggily.

"Don't worry about it, Kid," Ben replied. "We'll figure it out and then I'll clobber Doom, just like before. No one has a right to kill you, but me."

Sue spoke up again saying, "Ben's right. We'll make him pay, I promise."


	5. Chapter 5

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Five

Meanwhile…

When Miss. Frost didn't come back to the lab after an hour passed, Victor knew that something had gone wrong; that somehow, she had allowed Johnny to escape from her. It was when he saw the news report of the stranger running inside the burning building, he knew that it was Johnny, which meant that because she had failed to catch the kid again, she had decided to run in order to protect herself from him killing her.

Victor was angry of her incompetence, but that didn't matter now. What mattered was that he needed to move up the time table of when he had originally planned to set his plan in motion, which meant that he had a lot of work to do, starting with finishing the other project he had been working on over the past few days; a force field that was large enough to cover the entire warehouse, in order to keep out the remaining members of the Fantastic Four in case the Human Torch had managed to tell them anything about his plans or whereabouts.

Back inside the Baxter Building…

Johnny slowly fell asleep again after he had finally woken from his unconsciousness. He didn't want to, as he had become agitated after he discovered that he couldn't remember what Doom had done to him, despite Reed explaining to him that when he had first made it back to them after he had escaped, he had told them that Victor had stolen his power and that he had planned to use it to destroy an unknown target. However, Sue had begged her brother to calm down and rest, as he was still weak and that Reed wasn't sure how badly he had been affected by whatever had been done to him.

Eventually, he was asleep again and Reed continued running test after test on the younger man, while Sue kept hold of his hand as she sat down in a chair beside the table. When Reed finally finished, Ben and Sue carefully lifted him up and helped him to move from the table to his own bed, where he would be able to sleep more comfortably.

After covering him up in several blankets in order to warm him back up to his normal, or least whatever was his kind of normal, body temperature, Sue and Ben walked out of his room and back over to where Reed was standing, staring at the computer monitors, then she spoke up as she asked, "Will his body be able to repair the damage that Victor has caused? Will his power come back on its own?"

Ben responded angrily, "How can it? You heard both heard the kid. He said that he felt strange and empty. After having to watch him suffer for hours, then nearly die, Victor had to have done something terrible to him, probably tortured the poor kid the whole time he was missing in order to do to him whatever the hell he did. How can his body just repair itself from that?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure if it can," Reed answered sadly as he looked over at his wife as tears formed in her eyes. "It's going to take me time to even begin to understand what the tests I've performed on him are telling me. His vitals are weak, but for the time being, he's out of danger. However, as I said before, his immune and nervous systems are in poor condition. His core is still infused by the cosmic rays, but he couldn't even ignite a spark if he wanted to."

"He's going to hate to hear that when he wakes up," Ben replied in hope of easing a little of tension from the room. "You know how much he loves to torture us with his tricks. What if you did the same thing for him that you did for me, but instead of building the machine to reverse the cosmic storm's effects, you build it to recreate them?"

Reed shook his head and responded, "It's too risky. I have no idea what I could do to him. It could kill him. Besides, even if he does manage to regain his strength, he's already been tortured and you know how painful it was to you when you used the machine."

Sue turned her head toward Johnny's room and asked, "If he does regain his strength back, whether or not he regains his powers again as well, will he be able to live normally? I mean, will the emptiness disappear?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, Sue," Reed answered sadly. "I wish had more answers for you, but… I just don't. Perhaps I will know more in a few days."

"In a few days, we could all be dead," Ben replied bitterly. "Victor is going to hurt us by using Matchstick's powers against us. As much as I want to help the kid, we need to work harder on finding Doom and then I'll clobber him until he tells us what he did Johnny."

Reed nodded as Sue said, "Victor knows how to stay hidden, but I have a friend with the NSA that has agreed to help me track down and locate our mystery woman. So far, she's managed to find out that her name is Janet Jamison, also known as Winter Frost."

Ben scoffed, "That's real cute."

"She's a dangerous mercenary, who's wanted in several countries and has had a hit put out on her," Sue continued. "If we can find her, then we can get her to tell us where Victor's hiding."

"And how do you expect to get someone like her to help us?" Reed asked in frustration. "She won't tell us what we want to know out of the goodness of her heart and we cannot force her to talk. We're not torturers."

Ben angrily responded, "I agree that we can't torture her, but there has to be some way we can convince her to help."

Reed answered grimly, "There might be. We might be able to offer her a deal in exchange for her help. We can give her a chance to be free from running and to be free from Victor's wrath if he finds out we managed to flip her."

"No!" Sue shouted angrily. "She's the one that helped Victor kidnap and torture my brother. She's as guilty as he is. She doesn't deserve immunity."

"Would you really refuse, even if it means saving Johnny's life?" Reed asked sadly. "Believe me, I don't like it any better than you do, but if her help is what allows us to save him and to save this city, then we need to do what is necessary. It is the lesser of two evils. Unless Johnny can remember what Victor did to him and where he was held, we don't have a choice."

Sue only nodded and then turned her head away in defeat, when Ben spoke up again saying, "All right then. Now all we need to do is locate Winter Frost. I hope your friend at the NSA is good at whatever it is she does, Susie. We need to find her soon; for Johnny's sake."


	6. Chapter 6

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Six

Later that evening, as Reed, Sue, and Ben were inside Reed's lab going over the information Sue had recently received on Frost, Victor von Doom suddenly appeared on one of the screens in a broadcast, which Reed quickly discovered was being aired on every channel, that somehow Victor had hacked into the numerous networks in order to send out his message to anyone watching.

The three of them listened as Victor, dressed in his typical green cloak, mask, and indestructible armor, spoke saying, "_Hello again, New York City. As I'm sure most of you remember who I am and the amount of destruction I am capable of from my last attempt to destroy this city over a year ago, that you know I am a threat to you that cannot be stopped by anyone other than those, who have stopped me twice before now; your heroes, the Fantastic Four. This time, you have only them to blame for my threat. I have built a machine that has much of the same effects as that of an atom bomb, thanks to the help from one of the members of the team himself; the Human Torch. You can imagine the destruction a power such as this can create and the death toll that will come from it should I choose to detonate it. However, if the Fantastic Four hand themselves over to me willingly and you do my bidding from here on out, then I will spare your lives. The decision is yours; live or die. You have twenty-four hours to decide. I will be in touch._"

Ben mumbled angrily, "I swear I'm going to kill him the next time we meet. I guess we know now what that monster did with Matchstick's powers."

"Victor stole his power and built a machine capable of igniting a flame, that will burn hotter and hotter until it becomes a supernova, much like it were Johnny himself," Reed responded.

"When Johnny went supernova to stop Victor the first time we fought him, I was able to contain it because Johnny cut himself off," Sue replied. "A machine won't do that and even when we find Victor, I doubt he'll allow us to get close enough to the machine, long enough for you to be able to learn how to shut it down. He'll have it too well protected."

Ben walked over to the window and called out for his teammates to come over when he noticed a number of people beginning to form around the building, as they all began to call up to them, asking the heroes to give in to Victor's demands; to give themselves up to him. It wasn't a surprise to them, as they could understand how afraid everyone was, but it also hurt that there were so many people, knowing that the crowd would only grow larger, that were willing to turn on them at the first sign of trouble.

Reed said sadly, "We cannot blame them. They're afraid and not everyone thinks of us as heroes. I have a feeling that Victor is counting on this; hoping that their pleas will make us lose our faith in what we're all capable of doing."

Ben retorted, "But Reed, it took all four of us to beat Doom before and right now, we're one member short. You also know that Johnny's powers were essential to our victories both times and right now, Victor's got them to use against us."

"This is all my fault," Johnny answered weakly as he walked unsteadily up behind them, after listening to most of his family's conversation since the broadcast had finished. "If I…"

"Johnny, you should be in bed, resting," Sue cried as she rushed over to help Johnny when he suddenly began to collapse.

Reed walked over to help her as she gently guided him to a chair nearby, then responded, "Sue's right. You're still sick and walking around too soon is only going to make you feel worse. This isn't your fault, Johnny; only Victor's."

Johnny looked up at Reed and replied angrily, "Doom's using my power to create his own supernova in order to wipe out the entire city. How is this not my fault?"

"None of us saw this coming, Kid," Ben answered.

"Really, Ben?" Johnny responded as his voice began to rise. "You and I both know…that isn't true. I screwed up. I remember most of what happened… at the bank. I flew up to the roof to help a woman that I thought… I thought was in trouble. She knows my weakness for a pretty face, or at least Victor does."

Reed shook his head and replied, "You said it yourself. You thought she was in trouble."

Ben added, "And you thought she was leaning in for a kiss to show you her appreciation. You did nothing wrong."

"What do you remember about what happened after you saved her?" Reed asked.

"When she leaned in to kiss me, I didn't fight her… until it was too late," Johnny answered. "I remember feeling cold and then… nothing. I have no idea what she did to me, but… she had to have… have some kind of power. I… aagh!"

When Johnny cried out in pain as he suddenly fell forward and collapsed to the ground, both Reed and Sue put their arms around him as Sue said fearfully, "Tell me what's bothering you. What hurts?"

He responded, "Everything. Reed, what the hell did he do to me?"

"I don't know exactly, but somehow, he drained your power without actually changing your body chemistry," the scientist replied. "I have no idea if it's permanent, or if you're going to go back to normal if you give yourself time to rest and recover. I have no idea if…"

"You don't know if I'm… even going to survive… much longer," Johnny finished for him as Sue helped him to sit back up on the chair.

Sue quickly retorted, "You're going to be fine, Johnny. We're going to figure this out."

It was then that Sue suddenly received a text and after she finished reading it, Reed asked, "Is that your friend with the information we asked for?"

"She found her," Sue answered. "We need to…"

"You found who?" Johnny interrupted. "Do you mean the woman that helped Doom do this to me? Great! What are we waiting for? Let's go."

Reed stopped Johnny from attempting to stand up from the chair as he responded, "You're not going anywhere, but back to your room to lie down. Sue and I are going, while Ben stays here to look after you."

Johnny tried to object saying, "I don't need a babysitter, Reed. I'm…"

"You're not fine," Sue said cutting him off. "You can hardly stand and you collapsed in pain only a few minutes ago. "Reed and I are going to catch her and bring her back here to get her to tell us where to find Doom. Please, just let us do our jobs, Johnny. I don't want to see you get hurt again, all right?"

"Don't worry, Susie," Ben replied. "He ain't going anywhere. I'll knock him out if I have to."

Johnny quickly answered crossly, "No need; I'll stay. Just promise me that you'll be careful."

Reed nodded saying, "We'll be just fine and back soon."


	7. Chapter 7

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Seven

Reed and Sue flew in the fantasticar to a small neighbor deep inside the slums of Los Angeles, where Sue's friend from the NSA had told her Janet Jamison had grown up, and parked the jet on top of an old factory that was a few blocks from her apartment. For someone, who wanted to disappear off anyone's radar as Reed had suspected she had done, this was the perfect place to hide.

As they approached the apartment and began to walk up the stairs, Sue turned invisible, in case the woman tried to run when she saw her husband. Neither of them actually had a plan in place, as they had no idea how she'd react, but they did know that letting her get away was not going to happen.

Reed knocked on the door twice before anyone answered, but as soon as the red head recognized him, thanks to the research she had done on the Fantastic Four back when Doom had first hired her, she took off running and bolted out of the window, onto the fire escape. However, as soon as she made it down to the ground and began to run again, Janet suddenly ran into an invisible wall and fell to ground in a heap, before Reed had made it half way down. It was then that Sue made herself visible again in front of the her, as Reed used his ability to stretch the lower half of his body, then his top half, down to the ground faster, rather than having to finish climbing down, and then stood behind Janet to cut off any more of the mercenary's attempts to run.

"I have to say I'm impressed that you found me here," Frost spoke up coldly. "You are the first. Why exactly are you here? Is it to kill me for my part in helping Victor von Doom torture your brother, Mrs. Richards?"

"Believe me, there's a part of me that wishes I could, but we're not like you or Victor," Sue answered angrily. "We're here because we need your help to save Johnny and stop that monster from destroying our city. I take it you know what he plans to do with my brother's power?"

The red head smirked as she responded, "Of course. Knowing my employers' plans is the only way I agree to do a job. I also saw the broadcast. The man's rather full of himself if you ask me."

Reed spoke up as he asked, "Where is Victor hiding? Where is the machine?"

"What makes you think I'm going to help you?" Janet retorted. "I'm sure you've done your homework on me. Do you really think I care what happens to the Human Torch or to the people in your city? Doom paid me most of what he owed me already before I escaped from him. Money is the only thing I care about."

"What if I can offer you something more?" Reed replied. "You ran away from Victor before he finished paying you what he owed you, which means that you care about your life more than you do the money. We can offer you protection from Victor, in exchange for your cooperation. What do you say?"

Janet scoffed as she answered, "Honey, you're going to have to do better than that. I know how to take care of myself. I have for a really long time now."

Sue responded, "You've never worked with someone like Victor before. He's not like any of the other employers you've ever dealt with. Not only does he have his powers, but he also has an unlimited amount of money, as well as the smarts and resources to hunt you down for as long as he has to. If he wants to find you, he will. Take it from the people, who know Doom better than anyone."

"You're still going to have to do better," Janet replied. "How much money do you have?"

"Not enough," Reed answered in frustration. "But it's possible that we may be able to use our team's influence to get you a pardon from all of your past crimes. However, if we agree to this, you have to tell us everything we want to know, including where to find Victor. Otherwise, the deal's off and we'll send you straight to a prison that will hold you, no matter what kind of power you possess."

Frost curiously asked, "So the kid was actually able to tell you something, but he couldn't tell you where Doom is? Does he not remember running into the burning building after he escaped from me? That was pretty impressive, I have to say."

Sue responded, "He remembers you. He vaguely remembers you making him freezing cold before he blacked out, but not much more than that. However, he does remember the pain caused by whatever Victor did to him. He's still suffering."

"I'm not surprised," the red head replied smugly. "I listened to your brother scream for five days. I'm not exactly looking forward to hearing it again."

"Do we have a deal or not?" Reed asked angrily as he quickly stretched his arms out to grab a hold of Susan, who had suddenly become outraged, in order to keep her from attacking the hostile woman between them.

Janet smiled and then answered, "I'll come with you, but if you want my help, you will have to come up with some kind of cash payment as well."

Reed responded, "Very well."

As the fantasticar was about the same speed as a jet, Reed, Sue, and their prisoner, for the time being, arrived back at the Baxter Building within a couple of hours. After they landed on the roof, Sue remained behind Frost as they walked inside, despite wanting to go and check on Johnny, in order to make sure she didn't try to escape.

However, as soon as they walked into the lab, they found Ben hovering over Johnny, who was writhing in pain on the floor. Alicia was also there, standing nearby as she waited to hear what was going on. Sue rushed right past her to get to her brother, quickly followed by Reed, forgetting all about Janet for the moment. Winter Frost could have run away from them, but the truth was, their deal was too good to pass up on, as she didn't want to have to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder or waiting for Doom to finally find her and strike her down.

When they reached Johnny, whose eyes were squeezed shut as he continued to thrash, they could see that he was burning up with a raging fever just as he had been before when he had first made it back to them. Ben had been trying to hold him steady until Sue and Reed suddenly took over for him, while he stood back with Alicia, who grabbed onto Ben, as he looked down on them fearfully.

"How long has he been like this?" Reed quickly asked as he looked up at his long time friend.

"About twenty minutes," Alicia replied for Ben as he struggled to find the words. "I tried to call you, but… you must have been busy."

Tears were pouring down Sue's face as she looked up at Reed and cried, "Reed, you have to do something for him. Please, help him!"


	8. Chapter 8

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Eight

At first, Reed couldn't think about how to help Johnny, but as soon as Sue pleaded for him to help her brother, Reed suddenly looked up at Janet and quickly said, "You can use your power to cool him down. His body temperature is rising too fast for his immune system to handle. He'll die. We need to stop it before that happens and you're the only one that can help him in time."

As she just stood behind them with her arms folded across her chest, Janet looked down at the scientist and replied, "What makes you think that I can be of help?"

"We don't have any other choice," Reed answered in frustration while Sue remained silent as tears continued falling down her cheeks. "He won't last much longer. Do it now!"

Janet unfolded her arms, moved to kneel beside Reed as he and Sue continued to hold Johnny in their arms, and then carefully laid one hand over the youngest member of the team's chest and her other on top of Johnny's forehead. As she slowed down her breathing and began to concentrate, Frost's hands suddenly began to glow a light blue as frost slowly began to form over Johnny's body, indicating that she was once again working to freeze his body from the inside out in order to keep his temperature from rising and to bring it down. The process was slow, but after almost ten minutes had passed, Janet finally removed her hands from Johnny and moved back, then stood up.

"Freezing him this time around was much more difficult than before," Winter spoke up again. "Even before it was difficult, as I've never had to super cool someone with a body temperature that is even a fraction of his, but with how he is now… I have no idea how long my freeze job will last. It didn't last more than a few hours before."

Sue softly responded, "Then, if necessary, you can do this again; as long as it's long enough to keep him alive."

Ben looked down between his friends on the floor and then back over at Janet as he asked, "I take it that this is the red head, who kidnapped Johnny for Doom in the first place? No wonder Matchstick was smitten. You made a big mistake, Sweetheart. No one hurts one of us and gets away with it."

"I just helped to save his life," Janet replied snidely. "I suggest each of you try to be a little more cordial with me, or I won't help anymore and von Doom will win. Is that what you really want?"

"Listen, Frost Queen," Ben answered angrily. "I don't trust you and I don't care what…"

Reed quickly interrupted, "We made a deal with her in order to get her to help us, Ben. As long as she cooperates with us fully, then she'll receive our protection and a full pardon of her crimes. I don't like it anymore than you or Sue, but we don't have a choice. This is the only way to save Johnny and stop Victor."

Sue looked away from her brother and up at Janet as she softly said, "Tell us where Victor is hiding. I won't allow my brother to suffer anymore than he has to by waiting any longer to stop the monster once and for all."

"Even when I do bring you to the warehouse where his lab is, how do the two of you plan to stop him by yourselves?" Janet asked. "He's got some kind of technology that will put up a force field around the building in order to keep you out. Then, if you do manage to get in, you'll have to find a way to reverse the machine's affects on this kid here and destroy it without it blowing up in your faces, then finally defeat Doom. The Thing is going to be staying behind with the Human Torch and me, right?"

"I'll stay with Johnny," Alicia responded softly. "I can look after him while you're gone. This woman, whoever she is, is right. You're going to need Ben to help you to defeat Victor."

Reed replied, "I'm sure if we were all our normal selves, you could handle Johnny just fine, but with him the way that he is now, I don't know if leaving you alone with him is a good idea."

Ben cut in saying, "We just need to get back to him before he has another attack again. What else can we do? Trusting Miss. Frost here to take care of him and Alicia is not an option."

"Agreed," Reed answered as he carefully, with Susan's help, lifted Johnny up from off of the floor and laid him back down on top of the medical table in his lab so that he could run more tests on him in order to make sure he was in stable condition. "Besides, Winter will be coming with us."

"I thought you were going to protect me from Doom?" Frost asked angrily. "If I go with you to face him, he'll kill me. I'm not going anywhere with you."

Sue responded, "You won't have to fight him. We're just going to take you with us so that we can make sure you can't escape or cause any more harm than you already have. Don't worry, we'll make sure nothing happens to you."

After a few minutes, Reed said, "It looks like Johnny's doing all right for the time being. He's stable, but the affects of Janet's power is going to wear off fairly soon, as his body temperature begins to rise again. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Isn't there anything you can give him for the pain, Reed?" Sue asked as she looked over at him.

"I'm afraid to give him much without knowing the affects the drugs could have on him with the way his immune system is right now," Reed replied. "I'll work to make him as comfortable as I can. You and Ben go and make sure the fantasticar is ready and that we have whatever you think we might need. We're going to end this, Susan. We're going to finish Victor off for good this time so that he can't hurt us anymore."

While Janet stood in the middle of the room ignoring the conversations going on around her and Sue was busy talking with Reed, Ben walked over to Alicia, and asked, "Alicia, are you really sure you're up to this?"

Alicia nodded and answered, "Just because I'm blind, doesn't mean I can't help Johnny. I promise, we'll be all right. Go and end this. Just be careful, Ben. I love you."

"You're too good for me," Ben responded.

"I know," she replied.


	9. Chapter 9

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Nine

Reed, Susan, Ben, and Janet all arrived at Doom's headquarters within a few minutes, thanks to Janet finally agreeing to tell the teammates where he was. It turned out to be an old, worn down warehouse near the docks overlooking the harbor, which had been destroyed in a fire years ago. As it was made of brick and concrete, the place hadn't fallen to the ground, but the ruin was enough that no one wanted to fix it up, so it had been abandoned and forgotten until Victor discovered it just days after his fight in China against the Fantastic Four.

Reed landed the fantasticar on a rooftop of a building nearby, then Reed turned to Janet and said, "We're grateful for what you did to help Johnny earlier and that you kept up your end of the bargain, but we could really use your help to bring Victor down, as were shorthanded. Ben was right earlier when he said that Johnny's powers have been essential to Doom's defeat. It would be in your best interest to help us."

Janet shook her head and responded, "I did what I had to do, so pay me the money and let me go."

"If you want our money, you'll just have to wait up here for us to be back," Sue replied and then ran off the roof to the ground below, using her powers to lower herself down slowly.

"This isn't right," Janet answered angrily. "I showed you where Doom was hiding. There's a very good chance you won't even survive this fight. I want my money now before you die."

Reed smiled and replied, "I'm afraid we don't have it with us. Like Sue said, you're just going to have to wait. Don't worry, we're not going to let Victor win tonight and we don't plan on letting him kill us."

As Reed and Ben jumped down off the roof, Reed using his abilities to do so, Janet shouted back, "That doesn't do much to reassure me!"

Sue, Reed, and Ben slowly approached the warehouse and as they did, Ben reached down and picked up a rock from off the ground, quickly tossed it at the building, and as it bounced off, he turned to the others and said, "It looks like the frost queen up there was right about Doom having a force field. What exactly is our plan here, Egghead?"

"I'm not really sure," Reed answered. "Perhaps if I…"

"_Did you three really think that it would be that simple,_" Victor's voice suddenly boomed over a loud speaker from somewhere around them. "_I knew that you would show up eventually. Convincing my help to show you where I was; very good. I'm impressed and a little surprised. I never thought that the Fantastic Four, or should I say three, would make a deal with a criminal and then set her free._"

Before either of them could respond, they were suddenly surrounded by three robots that were three times the size of either of them, as they came from out of the warehouse's roof above them. After landing, they quickly armed themselves with weapons and then stood still, as they waited for a command to attack their targets.

Reed, Sue, and Ben backed up close together as Sue muttered angrily, "She set us up. This was all a trap from the beginning. We should have known that we couldn't trust her."

Janet walked out in between two of the robots and responded, "Actually, it wasn't what we had planned until your brother managed to escape from me. I admit that was an oversight on my end thinking he was too weak to run. I knew Doom would kill me for letting him get away, so I ran, but then I came up with an idea and I called Doom back. He agreed to spare my life if I could deliver up you three to him, as Johnny will die eventually without you there to keep him from burning out completely. I couldn't have risk a man as powerful as Doom being after me the rest of my life. What makes you think I would honestly trust you to keep your end of the bargain?"

"If you think Victor's going to let you live after tonight, then you're a fool, Janet," Reed replied.

"_Unfortunately for you, Miss. Frost, Reed Richards is right,_" Victor said as one of the robots suddenly fired at the redhead, killing her instantly before either member of the team could react. "_She let me down once already when she allowed that punk kid to escape. How can I possibly trust her not to let me down again? I have a feeling that you're not feeling any sympathy for her right now, am I right, Susan?_"

Sue didn't want to feel sympathy for the woman, but in a small way, she did and as she glared up at each of the machines in front of them she answered, "No one deserves to die like that, even her. You're finished, Victor. We're taking you down once and for all tonight."

Victor smugly responded, "_Not if you're dead._"

Just then, the weapons on each of the machines before them charged up, but as they fired, Sue quickly put up a force field of her own around herself, Reed, and Ben. She was able to keep it strong for a few minutes, but she was growing weak and Reed knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer.

It was then that Reed came up with an idea and after he pushed several buttons on a remote he had carried with him, a laser gun was suddenly fired directly upon one of the robots from above them, causing the robot to stop firing and malfunction, just before it blew apart. The other two robots stopped their attack upon Reed, Ben, and Sue, who collapsed her shield and fell into Reed's arms from exhaustion, and began to fire up toward the fantasticar that was now hovering above them.

Reed was now controlling their vehicle remotely as he set it to continue firing on the robots. However, it was getting more difficult to get good shots off as he was concentrating more on keeping the fantasticar from getting hit by the robots' guns. As Ben saw his chance, he quickly ran forward and jumped up onto the back of one of the robots as he began to smash and tear it apart. Just as the third robot was about to fire upon Ben, who was too distracted to notice, Reed suddenly stretched up and pulled his friend off, just in time for the shot to blow a hole straight through the heart of the machine, causing it to blow apart. The fantasticar began to fire all it had at the last robot standing, when Sue suddenly stood and with as much force as she had, used her power to project her anger against the robot, sending it flying into the ocean, causing it to short out and die.

"Are you all right, Sue?" Reed quickly asked as they had finished the fight.

"I'm fine," she replied. "But Johnny's not and Victor's probably powered up the machine by now, knowing that we've defeated his army. We need to get in there and stop him."

Ben began to pound his fist against the force field that is keeping them from breaking in and asked, "And how are we supposed to do that, Susie?"

Reed looked up and answered, "We go in the same way Doom's toys got out. We go through the roof."


	10. Chapter 10

Fantastic Four: Storm Rising

Chapter Ten

Victor had been watching the fight that was taking place outside, but as he noticed that the three remaining members of the Fantastic Four were overpowering the robots, he moved to his machine's controls and began to prepare it to destroy the city as he planned, using Johnny Storm's powers against them.

However, he was interrupted by the three as they suddenly blasted their way into the warehouse from the roof, the only section of the building not being protected by the force field he had created. Reed, Sue, and Ben all jumped out of the fantasticar and stood in front of Victor, but the villain only began to laugh.

"You think that just because you managed to get inside that you can still defeat me, Reed?" Victor asked smugly. "I've already set my machine to begin its destruction and there's nothing you can do to stop it now."

"Shut it down now, Victor!" Reed replied forcefully. "We won't allow you to get out of here, which means if you don't turn off the machine, you'll die with us. Is that what your great plan is? What about your message to the people you sent out earlier? What was the point?"

Doom retorted, "My point was to let this city know that soon they were going to die a very painful death. I knew they would never consent to my demands. My point, Reed, was to cause panic and I think that you'll find if you were to go out there right now, that I was successful in accomplishing that. The news has been reporting that numerous riots have broken out throughout the city and the people are causing sheer chaos. I want them to know that their heroes are to blame for their suffering."

Ben muttered under his breath so that only Reed and Susan could hear, "It looks like he got exactly what he wanted."

"We won't let you do this, Victor," Reed said solemnly.

It was then that Victor shot bolts of electricity toward the three teammates, who were all protected once again as Sue had blocked the power with her own. Ben suddenly ran forward in attempt to clobber Victor, but was forced back again as he was struck down again by Doom's power. Sue projected her power against him in order to draw him away from Ben and Victor was thrown back against one of the stone pillars in the middle of the room that was still standing. As he crashed into it, the force was enough to cause a large portion of the roof to cave in on top of the villain.

They knew that Victor was going to get up again any minute, but Reed used the distraction to run over to the machine's controls and began to try to power it down. Unfortunately, Victor was right when he said that Reed wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it, but he didn't give up trying as Victor suddenly broke through the debris on top of him and shot more electricity toward the scientist. Thankfully, Sue was right there to put up another shield to protect her husband.

Ben ran forward as Doom was focused on Reed and Sue and when he had his chance, pounded Victor with all his strength, while Sue suddenly went invisible in hope of sneaking up on Victor and as she did, she used what little strength she had left to project as much of her anger against him. The burst of energy caused Victor to crash through a wall, as what was left of it crumbled down on top of him. Ben came over to her and Reed as they began to stare at the machine as several bursts of energy from the sphere suddenly ignited, coming together in the middle, which would soon form an orb of fire.

"What are we going to do, Reed?" Ben asked.

The scientist was at a loss as he answered fearfully, "There's nothing I can do. Victor was right. He somehow fixed the controls so that we can't stop it. Johnny's power is only going to get stronger and once the supernova is formed, it will burst and destroy this entire city and then some."

Before either Ben or Sue could reply, Johnny's new Ferrari came crashing through the main doorway of the warehouse, with Johnny sitting behind the wheel with his head down as debris from the broken building fell on top of him. He was weak as he could feel himself burning up, but he smiled as he slowly moved to get out of the car and stumbled over to where his family stood.

Sue ran over to him to help him, but before she could scold him for coming, he quickly said, "I heard you were in trouble over the coms. I had to come."

"You're in no shape to fight against Victor," Sue replied. "Why would you… How did you get through Victor's force field?"

"There was no force field when I got here," Johnny answered as he walked unsteadily over in front of the machine and not the controls. "And I didn't come here to fight him. I can't allow him to destroy us all… using my pow… power."

Reed quickly moved to stand in front of Johnny and spoke up saying, "Johnny, you can't do what I think you're about to do. I have no idea what it would do to…"

Before anymore could be said, electricity suddenly shot out at each of them, causing Ben to fly across the room, while Susan quickly put up an energy field in front of her and Johnny. Reed managed to dodge out of the way using his stretching ability to keep from being struck. Victor rose up once again from the rubble and was about to strike again until Reed quickly stretched himself out and threw his body over Victor like a blanket, as he had done before to distract him long enough for Ben to get back up from the ground and charge him.

"You said it yourself, Reed," Johnny said as the others were all focused on Victor. "There's nothing you or anyone else can do, but… I can."

Johnny suddenly ran into the beams of energy that were forming in the middle of the machine, straight into the ignited flame. Both Reed and Sue cried out Johnny's name as he became engulfed by the energy and began to scream in agony as his body began to reabsorb the power that had been brutally ripped from him through days of torture.

Sue, Reed, Ben, and even Victor remained still and stared as Johnny's body suddenly burst into flames as it had done many times before, but this time, the flames were only growing larger until none of them could even see the younger man anymore. Instead, there was nothing but a large orb of fire that suddenly let off a burst of energy only large enough to destroy the machine surrounding it and then Johnny took off through a hole in the ceiling, pulling Victor up with him as he saw Victor preparing to strike at his family, and flew higher and higher into the sky, out over the harbor, as he was dangerously close to reaching supernova.

"Johnny's absorbed too much of his power and is fighting to keep from going supernova by burning off his power thousands of miles up in the sky, to protect us," Reed said as they struggled to watch as his flames were nearly as bright as the sun.

"What about Victor?" Ben asked as he looked over at Reed.

Reed looked down at Sue and pulled her into his arms after she collapsed to the ground as her body shook uncontrollably because of the fear she felt for her brother, then he responded, "Victor's gone. He couldn't possibly survive, no matter what he's become, being that close to the power and heat Johnny's giving off."

Ben nodded and as he looked back up into the sky at the flames, he answered, "Good. Victor deserved to die the way he was trying to kill us."

Finally, the flames died and neither of the teammates could see anything, as the sky was nothing, but pitch black, until Johnny suddenly crashed hard into the ocean not far from where they stood on the dock as he fell from the sky. Sue screamed her brother's name as Reed ran out and jumped into the cold, dark water in hope of saving Johnny from drowning, that is if he wasn't already dead from the amount of exertion his body had been through.

Both Sue and Ben feared that they both had drowned when Reed didn't come up after a few minutes, but he finally broke through to the surface, as he tightly held onto the unconscious youngest member of the team in his arm, while using his free arm to swim back to Sue and Ben. Ben quickly pulled Johnny from Reed as he made it to back to them and gently laid him down on the ground. When Reed made it out of the water, he swiftly knelt down beside Johnny and began to do CPR on him, as Johnny wasn't breathing.

Nothing was happening, as Johnny was still completely still, but just as Reed was about to give up, Johnny suddenly began to cough up water. Somehow, the kid was still alive, but he didn't wake. By all logic, Reed knew Johnny should be dead, but then again, Johnny was nothing if not resilient, as he always managed to surprise him no matter what he did.

As they all arrived back at the Baxter Building, they had found Alicia sitting on one of the couches, as she was beside herself with worry for the Human Torch. She explained to each of them that Johnny had awoken not long after they had left and had insisted on going after them despite her protests. Ben reassured her there was nothing more she could have done to stop him once he had his made up to go.

After Reed worked all night long running tests and doing everything he could to help break the fever that was still raging through Johnny's body, Reed walked out of his lab and turned to his wife, Ben, and Alicia and spoke solemnly, "Johnny's body temperature has gone back to the normal kelvin as it always was since the cosmic storm affected him. However, he's extremely ill. Absorbing that much power and nearly becoming a supernova was too much, too fast, especially in his weakened condition. To be honest, he shouldn't still be alive, but as he is, I am hoping that it's a sign he's strong enough survive. It's just too soon to tell. I'm so sorry, Sue."

"I'm staying up with him," Sue replied softly as she walked over and took a seat in a chair beside her brother, who lay once again upon the medical table with tubes and needles sticking out of him, then began to stroke his forehead and cheeks as she used to do whenever he was sick back when they were young for comfort and to let him know she was with him. "The rest of you can go get some rest now."

"I'm not going anywhere until I know that I'm no longer needed," Reed responded as Ben left the building to take Alicia home.

Two nights later, Johnny finally woke up, but was still extremely weak. However, Reed confirmed that he was now out of danger and would soon make a full recovery. It was then that Ben and Reed gently helped him move from the medical table in his lab and into his own bed where he could be more comfortable. Sue continued to stay by her brother's side, despite his attempts to assure her he was all right, but nonetheless, Johnny was grateful for his family's help and concern while he worked to get back to his old self. Each of them could see that Johnny was struggling to deal with everything he had been through.

It wasn't until several weeks passed by that one night Johnny walked out of his room to talk to Reed, who was working in his lab, and asked, "I killed Victor that night, didn't I?"

Reed turned to look at the younger man and saw the guilt in his face, then answered, "There's no way he could have survived. You did what you had to do to not only protect us, but to protect the entire planet. Victor was dangerous and he never would have quit trying to destroy us. I'm just sorry that you were the one that had to do it on your own. You did nothing wrong, Johnny."

"Then, why do I feel like I did?" Johnny asked again. "I killed a man…"

"You killed someone, who was about to kill us," Sue interrupted as she and Ben had both overheard the conversation as they slowly walked into the room. "Ben probably would have been fine and maybe even Reed, but I would have died. Besides, Victor wasn't a man. He was a monster."

Ben nodded in agreement and then said, "You did good, Matchstick."

As Johnny concentrated on trying to ignite a flame in the palm of his hand, he replied, "That nickname only works if I can get my powers to act right again. Reed, shouldn't I be able to…"

Johnny quickly stopped talking as a flame finally sparked like he wanted and then he suddenly sent it flying straight at Ben as he always did whenever he was trying to get a rise out of the man made completely out of rock. Ben growled Johnny's name after being hit by the fireball and then began to storm after him as Johnny fled the room while he laughed, just as he always did before all of this happened.

"It looks like things are finally back to normal around here," Reed said as he turned to Sue with a smile on his face, as she smiled back up at him.

"But this time, things are going to be better," she responded happily. "My brother is finally able to put the pain he went through and his guilt behind him, Victor von Doom is dead once and for all, and although the Fantastic Four will always be needed, at least we have one less enemy to worry about and we still have our family."

The End


End file.
